Okay, I've been a total slacker and have no one to blame except my toddler. (That's a valid excuse right?) At any rate, Monday morning I was home with my sick daughter and watching Good Morning America. A story came on talking about a study that found "a slight correlation" between working mothers and overweight children. The story then profiled a few moms who have decided to stay home and be the uber-parent touted by the media all the time, only to be followed by an expert who stated that in today's economy most families can't afford to have one stay at home parent. The piece finished with advice on how to do your grocery shopping (yep, that same walk the perimeter speech).
I have a problem with the whole piece in general, but let's break some of it down:
1. the study only noted a correlation between working mothers and childhood obesity. I have to wonder what the statistics show for families in which the father stays home with the children.
2. Let's all pick on working mothers! We like to think that we've moved past the model womanhood that our society was founded on--women should be uneducated, unemployed, raise boys to be leaders and girls to get married, have children, and pass the domestic goddess torch on to the next generation. Sadly, pieces like this bring to light the fact that we haven't moved anywhere. Some of this, I think, stems from the notion that employment is the means to a monetary end alone. People used to get jobs to serve other people, or, (heaven forbid), because they liked it. Clearly a woman can't be working because she wants to work, she must be forced to because of a bad economy (which, incidentally, has been largely caused by male leaders).
but, let me take my feminist rant down a bit....
I work because I like to work. Librarians may not make a lot of money or be glamorous, but I love what I do and that's why I do it. I also know that it takes a special kind of woman to stay at home. I look up to those women, because I couldn't do it. It's just not me. I also work because we can't afford for me not to, but even if my husband was making a salary that would support us both, I'd still work. I was unemployed for 6 months and hated every minute of it.
3. The grocery story perimeter lecture -- Enough already!
A piece like this would seem to insinuate that working mothers don't have enough time to fix healthy meals for their children, or are too inept, stupid, brainwashed by advertising and toddler whining, to choose nutritious foods. Really? My husband and I both work and make meals that most of my coworkers envy. We make food choices with our daughter in mind and introduce her to as many different foods as possible. Does she like cookies and cheese curls? Yes, but she also loves tofu stir fry, greek yogurt, and carrots.
Long story short, give us a break. Kids are overweight for a lot of reasons, and many of them are more societal than parental (how many jobs out there require sitting in front of a computer or desk all day?). Quit making us feel guilty for that stressful day when you have a million errands to run and laundry to do and the only thing you can get your fussy eater to put in his mouth is chicken nuggets or macaroni and cheese. Like our plates, it would be nice to see a more balanced piece in the morning.
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